A Dog's Life for Me
by general zargon
Summary: Tag to the episode "All Dogs go to Heaven". How I think it should have ended. Mandy does some thinking before Lucky arrives, and things turn out a bit differently. Rated for language.


_Author's Note: Okay, so this is my first time writing for the Supernatural fandom and I apologize in advance if it's terrible, but after stumbling upon a clip on Youtube from the episode "All Dogs go to Heaven", I couldn't resist writing this. How I think the episode_ _ **should**_ _have ended._

 _ **Edited 5/22/17: Added some lines and fixed a typo.**_

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It had been a horrible day, and Mandy Duran was still in shock that anything that she'd seen had been real.

She was tempted to follow her (late) boyfriend's example and have a drink, but she forced her mind away from that thought. Her son Aiden needed her to be sober and there for him as they both processed what had happened now that they were safely behind the door of their apartment.

' _Not that a wood door would do much to stop those things_ ', a surprisingly coherent thought informed her, and she shuddered as she poured herself some coffee, miraculously not spilling any despite her slightly-shaking hands.

The kitchen was silent except for the bubbling of the coffeemaker, her son sitting perched on a chair and quietly doodling with his crayons. Aiden looked so calm that it was almost like it was a perfectly normal night, like they hadn't seen the things they had, and a feeling of shame rose up in her at the realization that her son was taking everything better than she was. He wasn't shaking or trying to rationalize everything, he was just drawing away and munching on some chips that she'd dug out of the cabinets.

Morbid curiosity drove her to walk over and peer at what he was drawing, seeing the picture just as Aiden finished shading in the dog's fur with a brown crayon...

 _The dog_.

Mandy's grip tightened on her mug as she took a deep breath, trying to fall back into that semblance of calm she'd managed to achieve before seeing the drawing - an image of a woman, a child, and a dog, all of them with smiling faces - but her voice shook slightly as she asked her son, "Aiden, why did you draw Lu - the dog?" Her voice stumbled as she almost said the dog's name.

Aiden looked up at her, his young face set in the expression that said he thought it was obvious, even as he replied, "Because Lucky saved us. He's a good dog, and we have to tell him that. I made him a picture to show him that he's part of our family."

The mother felt like someone had just punched her in the gut, and she had a hard time catching her breath at her son's simple, straightforward explanation. Oh, if only life could be that simple!

Lucky, their beloved family pet, was a monster, something that could change shape and had been lying to them from day one. All the good times, the playing at the park and praise when the dog brought her slippers or Aiden's shoes to them, all the times she'd found Lucky and Aiden cuddled together in bed, the boy's hand buried in the dog's soft fur, had all been lies designed to get them to trust him. The worst part was that the dog was a murderer, responsible for the deaths of her boyfriend and his brother (' _no great loss there,_ ' a voice in the back of her mind said, and she felt guilty for the thought). She didn't even want to think about the reason that Lucky had lived with them, she really didn't.

But...but Aiden was right. Lucky had brought those two men to the monsters' lair to save them, even though he'd also gotten hurt. In his own way, Lucky had loved them, and who could say how a monster loved? He'd thought he was protecting them, the rational portion of her mind pointed out, and the rest of her had no choice but to agree. There was no pulling the wool back over her eyes - she knew the truth now. Knew that there were things out there, things that went bump in the night and couldn't be explained away. Lucky was just one of them, and could he really be counted, she found herself wondering. He had put himself in harm's way to save them, had disobeyed his leader to protect them, and that counted for something, at least in her books.

Sure part of her was still screaming and gibbering in fear, unable to think past ' _monsters!_ ', but the part able to look at things objectively didn't have that problem, and that was the part she listened to. Lucky had just been protecting them the only way he knew how, and Mandy swallowed before telling Aiden, "Yes, Lucky was a good dog."

Was, because what were the chances that they would see him again now that his 'cover' was blown?

Almost as if that thought was a cue, there was a knock on the door.

Mandy flinched before she could stop herself, but shook off the instinctive flash of fear, instead setting her coffee cup down and going to answer the door.

Lucky the man was standing there, looking ready to bolt at a moment's notice and like he expected to be hit (some part of her noticed that he was favoring his shoulder, and she distantly remembered that that was where he'd gotten shot - _protecting them_ ), and Mandy again felt like someone had punched her as Lucky spoke, "I just wanted to thank you for your kindness."

That decided it for her, because above all else Lucky loved her and her son, and what she knew now didn't erase the memories she had of her and Aiden's life with Lucky the dog.

So she smiled and truly meant it as she said, "Good dog, Lucky."

Things couldn't go back to the way things were, but maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of something new and better.

Lucky's, both man's and dog's, expression of hope made it all worth it.

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 _Author's Note: Well, that seemed like a good place to end it, because damn it I needed fluff after that horrible ending to the episode! Please review and tell me what you thought!_


End file.
